Latest articles

  • Why we scare kids

    Harald Zwart, while speaking about his adaptation of young adult fantasy novel The Mortal Instruments, has cited The Exorcist and the original version of The Thing as influences. Zwart says he thinks it’s good for kids to be scared, and I agree to some extent. Children use films to explore feeling. Fear, loss, confusion; they’re all up on screens from the get go. But Zwart’s desire to scare seems too outspoken, too full-frontal for a children’s tale.


  • Top 10 actors who’d be a better Batman than Ben Affleck

    As you literally cannot have failed to notice, Ben ‘look what a nice beard I’ve got’ Affleck has just been cast as the new Batman in Warner Bros’ three thousandth reboot of everyone’s favourite neurotic detective gimp. We spectacularly failed to predict this. But could his CV offer some clues to other actors who’d be… well, Battier? We’ve delved into the depths of Ben’s IMDb to decide which of his costars would do a better job.


  • Top 10 unforgettable biopics

    With Reagan’s biographers being all whiney about The Butler, and Naomi Watts apparently convinced that Princess Di’s been looking down on Watts as she plays her, thinking “Ooh, yes, lovely work there, Naomi,” we thought it was a good time to consider the nature of the biopic. Then we got a bit overwhelmed and decided to just harp on about a few that, for some reason or another, stood out to us.


  • Short Film Spotlight: Anna vs. the Dead

    All good things must come to an end, and after three jam-packed days of exclusive video interviews we’re finally running out – well, YOU try fitting more than three short films plus interviews plus music and a quiz into four hours. Smart arse. In our final celluloid retrospective, we meet the stars of Anna vs. the Dead.


  • Elysium

    Beautifully shot, brilliantly conceptualised, Elysium is a thoughtful and exciting film… right up to the half way mark, where it discards its social commentary for stale action sequences that feel torn from the mid-90s. Elysium could have been an iconic moment in sci-fi movie history, but limps weakly across the finishing line in a confetti…


  • Top 10 Jackie Chan films

    Jackie Chan is undoubtedly one of the greatest martial artists in cinema history, and not just for his ability to hit stuff – his comedic timing, his ability to use props intuitively and allow himself to undergo extreme physical duress has made him a force of nature. Many know him only for his less-than-stellar Hollywood films (you can still hear the screams of innocent children in the background of Around The World In 80 Days), but when Jackie gets a hit you want to stand far back. Here’s our Top 10 Jackie Chan films EVER.


  • 2 Guns

    Robert Trench (Denzel Washington), an undercover DEA agent, and Michael Stigman (Mark Wahlberg), an undercover Naval Intelligence Officer, rob a bank on behalf of their respective organisations, completely unaware of the other’s affiliations. In the vault they expect to find $3 million of money laundered by Papi Greco (Edward James Olmos), but instead end up…


  • Short Film Spotlight: Cooks

    You seemed to like us doing a video and that yesterday, so here’s another one – an exclusive interview with the boys from Bustabowl Productions on the occasion of the premiere of their historic film Cooks, shot in 2010 or 2011 or something but first screened last week at Best For Film Presents… We Like Short Shorts. Enjoy!


  • Pain & Gain

    We (royal) are, for some reason, SO willing to see Michael Bay redeemed. I was so convinced of Transformers’ potential greatness that I didn’t realise it sucked until about an hour after I’d seen its SEQUEL. And then I saw the big snake robot eat a building and thought “F*CK, Transformers 3 might actually be…


  • Polyester @ The Roxy – a Scalarama special

    Screenings are important. Screenings are how I discovered that Carrie is the scariest film ever made. Screenings are how I got to see Tommmy Wiseau tell a ten minute story about leather jackets. Screenings are responsible for the only tolerable instance I’ve seen of someone eating nachos in a cinema, albeit fancy ones. The guys from Scalarama are firmly in agreement with these statements, and they want to get you involved.